Air-cushioned counter-balance fo r cash-car



(No Model.)

L. G. BOST-EDO.

. AIR GUSHIONBD COUNTER BALANCE FOR CASH CARRIERS. No. 376,286. Patented Jan. 10, 1888.

UNITED STATES Frrcn.

LOUIS GARDNER B OS'IEDO, OF ATLANTIC, IOWVA.-

AIR-CUSHIONED COUNTER-BALANCE FOR CASH-CARRIERS.

SPECIFICATION forming part. of Letters Patent No. 376.286. dated January 10, 1858,

(No model.)

To all whom it may concern: I

Be it known that I, LOUIS GARDNER Bos- TEDO, of Atlantic, in the county of Cass and State of Iowa, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Air-Cushions and Counter-Balances for Cash and Package Carriers; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to an improvement in air-cushions and counter-balances for lowering elevators, and more particularly to cushioning the descent of elevators employed in cash and package carrying systems.

\Vhere elevators are used it is generally necessary to employ a counterbalancing-weight to lessen the labor of operating the device. Aircushions have also been utilized for the purpose of easing the descent of a loaded elevator. Where counter-balances are used they have been connected to the elevator by a pull-cord. This arrangement of parts is unsightly and otherwise objectionable, as well as dangerous in case the cord breaks. In the previous use of an air-cushion to check the descent of an elevator a principal objection totheir employment is the want of a proper and reliable means of regulating the speed of downward travel of the elevator, and in some cases to provide for a graduated operation of ai r-escape valves and other appliances that are complicated and expensive.

The object of my present invention is to remove existing objections to counter-balances and air-cushions for elevators, and provide a simple reliable device that is comparatively inexpensive to constructand keep in working condition.

WVith these objects in view my invention consists in certain features of construction and combinations of parts, that will be hereinafter described, and pointed out in the claims.

Referring to the drawings, making a part of this specification, Figure l is a rear elevation of the air-cushioning device in position as applied to cash and package carrier systems employing two tracks, the device being located at a clerk s station. Fig. 21s an enlarged view of an air-cushion and counter-balance in section to show its interior form.

A A are the main tracks 'of a two-track cash and package carrier system.

0 C are the elevator guiderods that extend from the ceiling or root of the apartment in which the tracks are located.

D D are movable track-sections that are raised by the upward passage of the elevator.

E is a track-section secured to the elevator B and made to fill the gap formed by the re moval of the tracksections D D.

F is an air-chamber, preferably made cylindrical, a piece of seamless brass tubing of suitable diameter being a convenient and cheap material from which to construct the chamber; which it is essential should have a smooth and true cylindrical interior surface of equal caliber throughout its length. The air-chamber F is made with an open top and is closed at its lower end, a small perforation being made in this head or closed end to permitadmission of a limited amount of air.

In some cases it may be advisable ,to insert a small petcock or a valve to admit air in graduated quantity and afford a means of changing the size of the orifice through which air is admitted to the chamber F.

The chamber F is provided with a plunger, K, constructed to fit neatly the bore of this chamber. A preferred form for the head is to adjust upon its lower end a leather cap pack ing, a, which will be expanded to cause its free edge to bear against the surface of the chamber when the plunger is elevated,and thus cause a partial vacuum in .the chamber beneath it.

A weight, G, is attached above the plungerhead K to loosely fit the bore of the chamber in which itslides. A cord, l, or other flexible appliance is attached to the upper end of the weight G, and is extended from this point of attachment upwardly and over the bracketpulley b, thence downwardly to be connected to the elevator 13, as shown in Fig. 1. The length of the cord I should be such that when the elevator is at its lowest point of travel, or near the counter, the weight and attached plunger-head K will be at or near the upper end of the air chamber F, and inconsequence when the elevator is hoisted to line with the upper track the plunger-head and weight G will descend to thelower end of the air-chamher.

It is necessary that the relative weight of the piece G and the elevatorB should be nearly the same, the preponderance being given to the elevators weight, so that frictional resist- ICC ance of the cup packing of the plunger-head K will be compensated for, and a loaded or empty carrier-car added to the weight of the elevator will cause its quick descent if released anduncheckcd in its downward passage, providing a valve or cock were open in the lower head to break the vacuum in the chamber. By a graduation of the influx of air through the valve or cock 0 in the head of the airohamberFthe upward movementof the weight G and its plunger-head K will be restrained in proportion as the orifice for inlet of air is diminished. The downward motion of the elevator in this case will be at the same rate of speed from the upper track to the counter. It is desirable, however, to have the elevator B return quickly to the lower track after a car is dispatched from an upper track, and in order to effect this a free admission of airinto the chamber F is required while the elevator is descending to reach the lower track, which is afforded in the following manner:

At the points in and m two equal sized pee forations are made in the wall of the air-cushion F and a pipe, 01, of same caliber as the diameter of the orifices m m is affixed to provide an outside connection or bypass for air from theinterior of the chamber between these points, which should be the same distance apart as the perpendicular space measures between the upper and lower tracks A A.

In use it is evident. that the free descent of the elevator 13 will be permitted from the upper track to a lower track and there take its position in line with a lower track, as is usual in two-track systems in which the upper track is used to dispatch goods or cash from a clerks station to a cashiers stand and thelower track a return-track from the cashiers stand to the clerks station. Now, as the incoming car ata clerks station is intended to automatically disengage the elevator to permitits descent to the hand ofthe clerk or operator, it is desirable that this descent of the elevator with a loaded car be cushioned by partially checking the further upward movement of the weight and plunger-head in the air-chamber F, which is accomplished by the tightjoint of the head on the interior surface of the air-chamber and the small amount of air allowed to enter at the lower end of this chamber producing a partial vacuum below the plunger-head K, and thus restraining the upward motion of the plungerhead K, and in consequence the lowering movement of the elevator from the lower track to the counter is effected in an easy and noiselcssmanner. The rate of speed of descentfrom the lower track may be altered to suit the wants of the system by increasing or dimiuishingthe size of the aperture in the bottom of the airchamber F.

Should it be deemed necessary to cushion the elevator a short distance above the lower track, to cause it to gently seat itself upon stops to line with this lower track, it may be accomplished by reducing the length of the bypass or pipe 11, as this will cutoff the free inlet of air at a point lower down in the airchamber F, and consequently shorten proportionately the free downward travel of the elevator from the upper track to the lower track; and in this way a cushion is produced to check the elevator at a point just above the lower track to permit it to quietly seat itself in alignment with the lower track, as desired.

This improved air-cushion and counter-balance for elevators is applicable to other purposes than eash-carrier systems and to other systems of cash and package carrying than the Bostedo and Thomas system, to which it is especially applicable and has been herein shown in connection with.

I do not therefore desire to limit myself to this particular application of the improvement herein described; but,

Having fully described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In an air-cushion and counter-balance for elevators, the combination, with an air-chamber, a weighted close-fitting plunger, and tlexible device connectingthe weighted plunger to an elevator, of means for introducing air below the plunger to alter the speed of descent of the elevator at desired points in its downward passage, substantially set forth.

2. In a counter-balance and air-cushion for elevators, the combination, with an air-chamber provided with a bypass in its side and a restricted air-passage at its bottom, of an elevator flexibly connected to a weighted plunger-head, the latter being thus adapted to counterbalance and cushion the descent of the elevator at varying speeds in its downward passage, substantially as set forth.

3. In a counter-balance and air-cushion for elevators, the combination, with an elevator, of an air-chamber, a graduated or diminished air-passage in its bottom,and a tubular air bypass rigidly connected to its side, of a weight and attached plunger-head located within the air-chamber and flexibly connected to the elevator, and thus adapted to counterbalance the elevator and regulate its descent at varying speeds in its downward passage, substantially as set forth.

4. In an air-cushion and counter-balance for elevators, the combination, with an air-chamber having a restricted air-inlet at the bottom, of an elevator, a weighted plunger-head flexibly connected to the elevator and adapted to slide in and make a close joint with the airchamber, and a by-pass for air to permit the free descent of the elevator during part of its travel and cushion it the remainder of its fall, all arranged substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have signed this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

LOUIS GARDNER BOSTEDO.

Witnesses:

BYRON M. FELLOWS, J. W. MAoGEAGH.

IIO 

